Hi! Hi! Hello! ❤ Today I will deal with quite a big topic. I would like to share with you some tips that I’m using or I trying to use. Also, as always I'll show you some of my arts. I hope you will enjoy them!

^{Mechanical hand by @thenoy}

Drawing from life

It’s something really important, but a lot of beginners don’t like to do it. We always want to create awesome things, of course! But drawing from life is giving us more possibilities. You can look from the other side to get a better view of the size and structure of the object. Also, you can touch it and create your own way to present this object. First I also used pictures as a reference and tried to make my drawing the same as the picture. (Ok, I still use references but now I’m using it more like ideas for some parts of my drawing to mix a lot of them and create something unique.) But drawing from life gives you a little bit different kind of experience. In the picture, half of the work is done. You have composition, light, and atmosphere prepared for you. It’s an idea from the author of the picture. While drawing from life you have to take care of each of them.

^{Hobbies by @thenoy}

^{Garlic by @thenoy}

Simple shapes at first

Complicated forms are awesome, aren’t they? But in my opinion, this is a good idea to start with almost nothing. When I preparing my art I start from shapes like circles or rectangular. Just to set the right place for objects on paper. Then I try to get shape closer to these objects, but it’s always like a very simple shape. Step by step I make objects more accurate, and after a while, I can start with “real work”. Also if you have problems with round shapes you can use straight lines broke in 2 or 3 points. For example, it can work for the eyes. You can add more details and make it more rounded later.

^{I've found one of my old arts with drawing hand on parts and shapes}

Setting a time limit

It’s helpful for getting a base character of the object you draw. To present what you want to present you have to focus on the most important parts of it. You can get the essence of what you would like to draw. It’s nice to use it for getting conception of art, and also for skill training.

^{Hand by @thenoy}

Daily sketching

Every artist in his tips list says it. I would like to keep it, but the reality is different. It’s great to sketch anything, even a part of bigger art. Just practice.

^{Glass of water by @thenoy}

Choosing materials

Some artists say about their favorite materials, others that you should use as cheep as possibles to do not feel sorry about “wasting” it. Well, it depends on the person. I love sketchbooks. I have a lot of them. But from the beginning, I noticed differences in papers and quickly I get a point which paper I like and which not. I try to buy sketchbooks with smooth (maybe not glossy but close) paper and high grammage (200 f.e). But it’s my personal preference. You should try some tools and papers and find the best for you. Don’t be afraid of using different colors of paper. Midtone paper is also awesome. You can use a white pen to make your drawing more outstanding.
How about pencils and pens? You can create awesome drawings if you’re using only one pen or pencil, of course. But is nice to try with 3 types of hardness to work with the right contrast in your arts. Sometimes to make darkness darker (😁) I use a black pen to finish my arts. Also, I use it for contours to make my cartoon arts more outstanding. In midtone paper white contours works very well :)

^{Foot by @thenoy}

^{I've made this character with harder border to expose it, It's an example of using pencil and black pen}

Using backgrounds

If we’re talking about making characters (or objects) more outstanding you can also use backgrounds here. Sometimes you draw the awesome character. Ok, let’s try to give it some background, even a shape behind it. It could work really well. If it’s a sketch even if you add some shape filled with color (I love to use yellow, red, or blue) it’ll give it some uniqueness.
Sometimes when I’d like to make a sketch from life and I know that some light pots are on this object (on glass for example) I do my best to make background more grey, to give this light chance to be visible there.

^{"Light bulb" by @thenoy}

^{Younger by @thenoy
Just an example with background, It's not sketch anymore but It's more interesting because this background}

Using references

As I said I use references. One, two, seventh… It’s nothing bad with it. And it’s not cheating 😁. You can use to get a better idea of how something is constructed or remake some parts to make your drawing more detailed.

^{Hand by @thenoy}

Working with composition

The composition is really important in drawing and then painting. I think is one of the most important things. You can be awesome in drawing some objects, but when you would draw three awesome objects with no sense of compositions, you will probably get filling that something is wrong, missing, or stacking without harmony. The composition is a big topic so I’ll leave it for another post. Also with some smart (I hope) tips :)

^{Hand by @thenoy}

Making mistakes

Also, a phrase that artists often make. Make mistakes. Look at your work, try to find a way to make it better. Make another mistake, and try to fix it. Any learning process includes mistakes. So just relax and make some of them today!

^{Hand by @thenoy}

Ok! Here’s the end for today. What do you think about those tips? Should I continue this topic for you? I hope it was useful.

Thanks for reading and see you soon!